[acimlessons_list] LESSON 258 - SEPTEMBER 15

[Sue Roth]

LESSON 258 - SEPTEMBER 15

"LET ME REMEMBER THAT MY GOAL IS GOD."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS

See complete Part II Practice Instructions in a separate document. A short
summary:

* Read the commentary paragraph slowly and personally.

* Pray the prayer, perhaps several times.

* Morning and evening: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind
Meditation.

* Hourly remembrance: Repeat the idea and then spend a quiet moment in
meditation.

* Frequent reminders: Repeat the idea often within each hour.

* Response to temptation: Repeat the idea whenever upset, to restore peace.

* Read the "What Is" section slowly and thoughtfully once during the day.

COMMENTARY

Have you noticed we are into a series of "let me remember" days? Starting
with yesterday's lesson, there are four "let me remembers" in a row: "what
my purpose is," "that my goal is God," "that there is no sin," and "God
created me." There was one earlier lesson also (Lesson 124): "Let me
remember I am one with God."

That is one of the things Workbook practice is all about: remembering. How
often during the day does the lesson for the day cross my mind? How often do
I pause to reflect on it for a minute or two? How often does my state of
mind reflect my only purpose, or God as my goal? And how much of the time
does my mind reflect something quite contrary? The purpose of set
times--morning, evening, and hourly--is to retrain my mind to think along
the lines of the Course. There is no question in my mind that we need such
training and such practice.

All that is needful is to train our minds to overlook all little senseless
aims, and to remember that our goal is God. (1:1)

The "little senseless aims," however, loom large in our consciousness, and
do not seem little to us; they preoccupy our minds and keep them from their
true goal. So training is "needful." The memory of God is in us already
(1:2); we don't have to dig for it. "God is in your memory" (T-10.II.2:4).
All that we need to do is "overlook" or give up "our pointless little goals
which offer nothing, and do not exist" (1:2); they are obscuring the memory
of God within us. With them out of the way, the memory of God will come
flooding back into our awareness.

The "toys and trinkets of the world" that we so avidly pursue cause "God's
grace to shine in unawareness" (1:3). God's sunlight is shining, but we do
not see it; we go shopping. Not just in malls for things, but in
relationships for specialness, in the marketplace for power and influence
and wealth, in the bars for sex, and with our TV remote controls for
entertainment. Do I want the memory of God? All that is needful is that I be
willing to train my mind to stop blinding me to it.

"Let me remember." Oh, God, let me remember!

God is our only goal, our only Love. We have no aim but to remember Him.
(1:4-5)

What else could I want that compares with this? Each time today that my
heart is tugged to "shop" for something else, let it be a signal to my mind
to stop, and to remember: "My goal is God."

A poem I learned in my Christian days pops into my mind. Some of those folks
knew what they were talking about:

My goal is God Himself.

Not joy, nor peace, nor even blessing,

But Himself, my God.

At any cost, dear Lord, By any road.

A Course friend sent us some baseball-type caps imprinted with the letters
"MOGIG." They stand for "My only goal is God." I think I'll wear that hat
today as I work; it will be a good reminder.

WHAT IS SIN?

PART 8: W-PII.4.4:4

While we are all deeply involved in the drama of this "childish game" (4:2),
reality continues. It has never changed. "But all the while his Father
shines on him, and loves him with an everlasting Love which his pretenses
cannot change at all" (4:4). Our "pretenses," the childish game, the playing
at being bodies that suffer evil and guilt and death, has not changed and
cannot change the deep, abiding reality of God's Love; the endless, perfect
safety in which we dwell in Him.

The changelessness of Heaven is in you, so deep within that nothing in this
world but passes by, unnoticed and unseen. The still infinity of endless
peace surrounds you gently in its soft embrace, so strong and quiet,
tranquil in the might of its Creator, nothing can intrude upon the sacred
Son of God within. (T-29.V.2:3-4)

In a sense, God's Love guarantees our eternal safety. Because His Love is
"everlasting," so are we. While His Love endures, we endure also.

The Son of Life cannot be killed. He is immortal as His Father. What he is
cannot be changed. He is the only thing in all the universe that must be
one. What <seems> eternal all will have an end. The stars will disappear,
and night and day will be no more. All things that come and go, the tides
and seasons and the lives of men; all things that change with time and bloom
and fade will not return. Where time has set an end is not where the eternal
is. God's Son can never change by what men made of him. He will be as he was
and as he is, for time appointed not his destiny, nor set the hour of his
birth and death. (T-29.VI.2:3-12)